The classical languages are the oldest philological study programme on a university of the European cultural and civilizational round. Without their study, it is impossible to know or understand the culture and civilization of the ancient Mediterranean area, nor is it possible know or understand the culture of the European nations in its integrity. Not even Slovak literature, culture and civilizational traditions can be seriously studied or interpreted without their knowledge.
This field of studies, usually called Classical Philology, is fostered on the most renowned universities in most of the European countries. Furthermore, it is most commonly one of the key study programmes on several universities in a country (for example in Budapest, Vienna, Tübingen, Prague, Brno, Krakow, Lvov, Oxford, Cambridge).
The Department of the Classical Languages was founded in 1992 as one of the founding departments of the re-established Trnava University and its primary goal is to provide courses in the obligatory fundamental disciplines of the classical philology. The study programme is focused on the mastering of the Latin grammar and on the reading, translating and interpreting the works of the prescribed Authors. The study of the Classical Greek is, of course, a self-evident part of it too.
The study programme is furthermore focused on the ancient classical literature and the cultural as well as political history of the classical antiquity and civilization. One of the specific priorities of the Department of the Classical Languages is that the course of studies is focused on the more recent forms of the Latin language, especially on the literature in times of the renaissance Latin humanism and the literature in the era of baroque. A special accent is laid on the literary production of former Universitas Tyrnaviensis (1635 - 1777).
Up to the present day (2017), more than 70 students graduated from the study programme and more than half of them found employment in the field of the studies. It is also an option for the absolvents to complete the next degree of the studies (PhDr.) at the department.